A Love Unrequited, On the Brink of Disaster
by Alessiel
Summary: "The last month she has hardly scorned him at all. He had tried to pick fights, just to see the usual fire flare up inside of her big brown eyes, but she barely responded, if at all. Everyone saw it, everyone knew...He was slowly losing his Akane, and it wasn't because she was on the brink of death. No, this time...he was losing her heart and that scared him just as much."
1. Chapter 1

**Hellooooo! :)  
This is my first ever Ranma Fanfiction!  
I absolutely LOVE this Anime and the Manga.  
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this. All the chapters will probably be around this length or longer.  
atleast that is the plan :)  
**

**I Do NOT Own Ranma 1/2. Nope,nope,nope.**

**-Alessiel**

* * *

_After Jusenkyo and the failed wedding attempt, he had noticed the not-so-subtle changes in her. When he would call her 'uncute' and 'tomboy' instead of lashing back out with 'Pervert' or 'Baka', her eyes would fall to the ground and she would turn away. When Shampoo would appear for an early morning glomp, interrupting their walk to school, she no longer glared or threw her attitude. In fact, she would tell Shampoo good morning and walk away without so much as a threat to him. During this last month she has hardly scorned him at all. He had tried to pick fights, just to see the usual fire flare up inside of her big brown eyes, but she barely responded, if at all. Everyone saw it, everyone knew..._

* * *

"Do you think something is the matter with Akane? She sure has been acting strange." Kasumi's innocent voice spoke at the dinner table. The youngest of the 3 siblings had been in her room all day, and only came out moments ago to inform her oldest sister that she was not feeling well, and did not want any dinner. This was 3rd time this week she refused a meal and everyone was beginning to worry. It had been almost month since the wedding disaster and the fight at Jusenkyo. Ranma thought she was still trying to recover at first, from the trauma of it all, but she still hasn't gone back to her old ways and only seems to be getting worse.

"My guess is it has something to do with Ranma." Nabiki said nonchalantly, causing his shoulders to tense.

"No way is it my fault!" He took only a moment from shoving his face full of the delicious Miso soup to defend himself, and quickly continued slurping.

"You willing to bet on that?" Nabiki challenged, taking her eyes from her nails and smirking at the boy across from her.

"Yeah right, I ain't getting caught up in another one of your schemes, Nabiki. Haven't you stolen enough money from me?" Ranma spoke between slurps, not wanting to waste any of his precious dinner.

"Well now Ranma, if you are so confident that you aren't the problem, than why not just have a little fun anyway? If I lose _I'll _be the one paying you."

Ranma glanced up at her and cocked an eyebrow.

"You're never so willing to give up money like that Nabiki. I ain't stupid. You got some trick up your sleeve. Besides, nothing's wrong with Akane, she just said she wasn't hungry." He brought his attention back to his soup once again.

"How can you say that Ranma?! My precious girl has hardly left her room in a month!" Soun Tendo spoke up with tiny rivers running down his eyes.

"Yes, she certainly hasn't been very social lately." Kasumi added. Ranma brought his red bowl down and stared at the contents left in it.

"She's fine, alright. She's just...she's just still recovering is all." He gave them the excuse he has been giving himself for about 2 weeks now.

"Listen Ranma, I will not sit around while my daughter is falling into depression. You need to fix whatever it is you did or I will be forced to take matters into my own hands." Mr. Tendo's voice was stern for a moment, but he then quickly continued to blubber.

"Why is it always MY fault?" Ranma tightened his grip on the bowl that he was shoving in his face moments ago.

"Think about it, Ranma." Said Nabiki in a cool tone, making sure to send a small glare to her future brother in-law.

"I didn't do nothin' to her..." He spoke quietly, losing his usually insatiable appetite. He pushed the bowl away, only to have it quickly swiped by the giant panda sitting next to him.

"Oh Ranma, when will you ever learn?" Nabiki said with her attention back to her nails.

Ranma looked away from her only too see his father holding a sign that read "The boy has always been pretty dense."

"Like you have any room to talk, pop!" Ranma said with a quick punch to his fathers head. He sighed heavily and stomped out of the room and headed up the stairs. He just wanted to take a bath and go to bed for the night. Once he reached the upstairs hallway his eyes fell on Akane's door. The young martial artist walked quietly up to it and fought the urge to knock when he noticed her light was off. As he took a step away from the door he heard something coming from her room and stuck his ear against the wooden surface. His eyes widened and his muscles tensed when he realized they were small sobs. She was...crying. Ranma let his forehead rest on the door and debated going in to comfort her.

"Oh Ranma...You baka." He heard her whisper between sobs. His eyes widened for a moment, scared that she knew he was standing outside of her door.

"Baka, baka, baka." She whispered more as her sobs became louder. Ranma's hands balled into fists and he bowed his head in shame.

* * *

_ He was slowly losing his Akane, and it wasn't because she was on the brink of death. He couldn't destroy the Phoenix King to save her and there was no need for him to rehydrate her body this time. No, this time... he was losing her heart, and that scared him just as much.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay here is Chapter 2. :)  
Sorry this took so long, I was having a few issues with my laptop...  
It wouldn't start up and I thought I lost all my stuff forever! .  
I was finally able to get it running and had my Stories sent to my email so I could save them on my husbands computer as well.  
Chapter 3 is currently written, but still needs to be edited. Hopefully I will have it up by tomorrow or the next day :)**

**I would like thank those of you for your reviews!**

**CrimsonDucky: thank you! I'm very glad you like it so far :)**

**TL: Yes, it is amazing how bad he handles emotional/confrontational situations. Considering he spent most of his life on the road with his dad, its safe to assume his people skills wouldn't be the best though xD lol thanks so much for your review :)**

**Richard Ryley: I do realize she wasn't upset at the end of the Manga, but I feel like after a while she would get fed up with the games, especially after having some kind of a break through in their relationship and only to back track almost immediately after. I mean if it were me, I would get tired of it, which is why I am writing her this way I guess lol I agree completely that if Ranma nutted up and just said how he felt all of this nonsense could be avoided...He really makes his own bed half the time xD at least with his girl problems lol Thank you for your review :)) I very much appreciated it!**

**ZNTA: We will see if he can do it! haha We all know how stubborn and awkward he can be with this kind of stuff xD**

* * *

They walked home in awkward silence, her on the sidewalk staring at her shoes and him walking on top of the fence. Ranma glanced over towards the girl he had become so worried about the past few weeks. He had to admit, he was a little surprised to see a small bounce in her step that hadn't been there for a while. She had become accustomed to a slower place with her shoulders slouched and head down, but today she stood straight and was certainly moving along faster. This was a good sign, and he couldn't help but wonder if she may go back to being the macho tomboy chick he uh, well...cared about...kind of...possibly...maybe a little.

"Yo, Akane. What's go you so happy, huh?" He put his hands behind is head trying to seem nonchalant. The girl took a moment before she answered.

"I don't know...just had a surprisingly good morning, I guess." She replied without sparing him a glance.

"Oh yeah? Why's that? I don't remember nothin' different about this morning." He cocked his head curiously.

"Figures you wouldn't notice, Ranma." She stated bluntly.

He really wasn't sure what made it so different than any other morning. They got up, ate breakfast, and ran out of the house. They actually made it on time this morning, but that was probably because Shampoo wasn't there to give him his unwanted early morning dose of molesting. Could that be what made her morning so nice? That Shampoo hadn't made an appearance? He had to admit it sure put him in a better mood today, especially since he didn't have to stand outside of the classroom for being late.

"Oh yeah, Shampoo didn't show up this morning, huh?" He glanced over at his fiance again, trying to read her reaction. She stopped walking and opened her mouth to respond, but only closed it instantly when they heard the distant sound of a bike bell.

_Ding ding_

Ranma cursed under his breath. Speak of the devil, and _she_ shall appear.

_Ding ding_

Ranma's eye twitched with every sound that dreaded bell made._  
_

"Ni Hao, Airen!" The purple haired amazon exclaimed as she crushed the pig tailed boy with her bike.

Akane's good mood was immediately ruined the moment she heard that annoying high pitch voice. She turned around with a smile forced upon her face, and the intention of putting on her friendly act and leaving. This was how she started handling the Shampoo situation since she was too emotionally tired to play these games any longer.

"Shampoo save you from marry crazy violent girl over month ago now. You take on date finally?" She balanced the bike on the front wheel that was digging into the poor boys back as she spoke to him. Akane felt her eyebrow twitch and the smile she was working incredibly hard to keep up was turned into a deep frown.

"Saved him?!" She growled through gritted teeth and balled her small hands into tight fists. Shampoo brought her attention to Akane, sending a cynical glare to her competition for the martial artist's heart.

"You too, too violent to be good wife. Already you want to punch Shampoo, see?" The pretty Chinese Amazon brought her glared down to Akane's balled hands.

The other girl cringed at her words and felt her hands loosen. Shampoo, noticing Akane's reaction, decided to press on.

"Not to mention you no good cook. Ranma eventually come crawling to Nekohanten begging for good food. You push him right into Shampoo arms."

She hated to admit it but Shampoo was right, could she really be a good wife to Ranma? Or would they spend the rest of their lives together with ridiculous fights only ending with him getting a mouthful of her mallet while she ordered take out? These were just a few of the same thoughts that had been running through her mind constantly lately, and Shampoo pointing them out only made it worse.

"Hey, uh, Shampoo. Mind getting get your bike offa me now?" Ranma finally spoke up.

"Aiyaa! Shampoo so sorry, Airen!" She shrieked before lifting the bike off of him. The young martial artist stood up and rubbed the bruise he was sure had started forming on his back.

"Shampoo, you can't ju-" Ranma was quickly cut off as the girl jumped onto his chest and knocked them both to the ground. Akane watched as Shampoo straddled her fiance and nuzzled into his neck.

"S-Shampoo come on get off me!"

Akane glared at the two of them and felt a familiar lump in her throat. She wanted to yell and punch the living daylight out of her fiance, but when she opened her mouth the only thing that came out was a small, pitiful, sob.

Ranma was trying to push the very assertive girl on top of him off, but she had a very strong grip. He heard a small squeak come from a few feet next to them and turned his head over, only to meet with a sad gaze from Akane. At first he wasn't sure how to react to this... Usually Akane would be sending him to the moon right now with her mallet, not looking at him as if she was fighting back tears. The boy stuck with what he knew and reverted to habit.

"Akane! It's not what it looks like!" He shouted and continued trying to pry the other girl off of him. Akane, not wanting to be around the two anymore turned around and ran.

"Damn it Shampoo! Don't you ever just..GIVE UP?" He barely held back the anger in his voice, hoping she would get the hint. As if he could be so lucky, though.

The Amazon girl brought her head up and giggled at him.

"Silly Airen!"

She thought he was joking? Ranma groaned out loud and hit the cement with his fist in frustration. What the hell was he supposed to do now? He needed to go after Akane, but Shampoo was just too damn persistent.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't know how I feel about the ending of this chapter...but meh I did the best I could. lol  
**

**Hope you guys enjoy this :)**

**Thank you too Teddy's Circus and Caia-Chan for your reviews :)**

* * *

She was running blindly to Kami knows where, but she really didn't care. Anywhere was better than being near them. Tears were now pouring out of her eyes and with each breath she took a small sob would escape. She cursed herself for allowing Shampoo to get to her like this, but it seemed anything involving Ranma sent her to tears lately.

Finally slowing her pace she began scanning her surroundings, immediately recognizing the trail she was on. She was near the public park not too far from her high school. Glancing a little deeper into the trees, she noticed smoke rising not too far from her dirt path she was on. It was just a small stream rising into the clouds which meant it was probably a camp fire, but who in the world would camp this close to town? She shook her head as she realized there was really only one person it could be. She walked in the direction of the smoke and smiled weakly when the lost boy came into view. He was crouching over the fire with his back to her, so he did not see her slowly walking towards him.

"Hello Ryoga." She kept her voice quiet and calm to hopefully prevent startling him. He jerked his head up to look at her and let out a nervous laugh.

"H-Hey Akane!" He said while smiling back at her. Akane's smile quickly disappeared and was replaced with a look of worry.

"Uhm, Ryoga...Doesn't that hurt?" She said as he realized her gaze had fallen to his hand. He looked down and noticed that it was smothered in the flames of his campfire. He bit his tongue to hold back a scream as he quickly removed his hand and began waving it around frantically.

"O-oh no its fine! I do this all the time! It uh keeps my hand nice and strong, you know? If I can with stand 3rd degree burns, whats a little punch gonna do?"

He was laughing almost hysterically now. Akane walked over and grabbed his wrist to stop him from flapping it around anymore. She studied his injuries and frowned.

"This looks pretty painful..."

His hand had already began to swell and blisters were starting to form. She saw a canteen laying next to them and quickly picked it up. Popping off the cap she began pouring the cool water over his burns. Ryoga watched her with admiration, but quickly took the canteen away before she poured enough to transform him.

"Th-thats fine. Thanks." He stuttered. A blush made its away across his cheeks when he felt his fingers lightly graze hers as he took the water container from her.

"I guess that's all I can do for now. I unfortunately don't have a first aid kit on me. If you want I can walk you to the hospital." She said while bringing her eyes up to meet his.

Ryoga's heart was beating loud in his chest and he was almost instantly lost in her gentle brown eyes. Throughout his life Ryoga's luck had not proven to be very high, especially when it came to relationships, friendships, anything that had to do with other people. Never in his life had he ever felt like someone really truly cared for him, so when Akane came along he instantly developed an infatuation for her. She was kind and sweet to him and he adored her so much for that. He tore his eyes from her and sat down on a log next to the fire. He of course had Akari now, but Akane was his first love and he had a hard time letting her go so easily.

"No, I'll be fine. Thank you for your concern.." He grabbed a stick and poked at the flames, trying to keep his mind on something other than the girl he knew would never return his feelings.

Akane felt his mood shift suddenly and wondered if she had said something wrong. She made her way over to his log which was long enough to fit a second person and plopped down.

"Where's Ranma?" Ryoga finally asked. Ranma rarely allowed Akane to go anywhere without him after she almost died in China, so it was odd that he wasn't here now. Wasn't he deep within a forest? Come to think of it why would Akane be this far out in the middle of no where anyway?

The girl sitting next to him brought her head down and began to fidget with the sleeve of her school uniform.

"He...he's an idiot you know that?"

Ryoga brought his head up to look at Akane.

"W-What?" Of course _he _knew Ranma was an idiot, they were rivals after all.

"We were on our home from school and Shampoo showed up. She wasn't there this morning and I really thought that maybe she was going to leave us alone for once..." She bit her lip trying to fight the tears that were threatening to pour out again.

"Akane?" Ryoga wasn't sure how to handle this. He was always the one being comforted, not the other way around. He winced when he heard her force out a laugh.

"It's funny really. I mean I never let it affect me in this way before. I got so used to hiding behind my anger all the time that I never realized it hurt me as much as it did...everything. I mean seeing Shampoo all over him, Ukyo constantly competing for his attention, his constant name calling towards me. I guess after everything that happened China, I thought maybe things might be different... You know?" She kept her eyes focused on her lap but she could feel the lost boy's intense gaze on her.

"He really is an idiot. Hurting you like this. " He mumbled in frustration.

Ryoga's rival has been causing her pain for far too long now. Even someone as strong and stubborn as her could take only so much before her heart would shatter. He knew better than anyone seeing as he was there many times while she cried in her bed at night. This wasn't the first time she confided in him, granted this was the first time she knew it was him, and not her pet pig.

"I'm sure if you told you father you didn't want to marry Ranma, he wouldn't really make you...would he?" Ryoga saw her shoulders tense at his question.

"No, I suppose he wouldn't if I told him I was really against it." She paused before continuing.

"The only problem is...I'm not really against it." her voice was a low whisper and she squeezed her eyes shut, causing a few more tears to fall on the end of her sleeve she was nervously tugging at.

"What is wrong with me?" She whispered again.

"I think it's safe to say you are in love with that idiot." Ryoga's voice was almost as quiet as hers.

"Yeah...I guess so." She whispered and finally brought her eyes to meet his.

"Ryoga. I...I want to apologize to you for anytime I may have lead you on or took advantage of you." He dropped his eyes from hers and brought them back to the fire.

"So, you knew huh?" He said, unable to look at her.

"I mean, I had a hunch...truth be told you weren't the best at hiding it at times. Especially when we went on that movie date and ended up at that haunted house. You..were a little erratic afterward." She said with a small giggle. Ryoga cringed at the memory at first, realizing how ridiculous he had acted at the time.

"I cherished any moment I had with you, Akane. I didn't care if it meant I had a chance with you not."

"I'm sorry...I can't help but feel a little bad..."

"Really, don't be. I knew from the start that Ranma held your heart and I still took part in demolishing your wedding. If anyone should be apologizing, it's me. I did a lot of selfish things to get closer to you Akane..."

One thing specifically came to mind as he spoke, but he decided the secret of P-Chan shouldn't come out just yet. He felt Akane's hand on his shoulder and his body tensed slightly from her touch.

"Yo, Akane." Both Akane and Ryoga jumped at the sound of Ranma's voice behind them.

"Where's Shampoo?" Akane spat out in a harsh tone. Her fiance crossed his arms and looked away.

"I was finally able to ditch her, no thanks ta you."

"You sure weren't acting like you wanted to ditch her when I left." The girl stood up and glared at the boy she was supposed to be in love with. Ryoga would never understand these two, they really can be a mess.

"Sounds ta me like you just wanted an excuse to come see bacon breath over there." Ranma glared at Ryoga. This was the first time he had seen him since their wedding disaster.

"Who you calling Bacon breath?" Ryoga stood up in a fighting stance.

"Ranma, stop picking on Ryoga." Ranma cringed slightly when she defended him. Why does she always defend that pork butt anyway?

"Sorry ta ruin your good time with Ryoga here, Akane, but it's getting late. Shouldn't we be heading home?" He wanted to get to a safe place in case Shampoo decided to make an appearance again, or Kodachi even. It's been awhile since they have seen the deranged 'Black Rose' around and he felt he was due for a visit sometime soon, unfortunately.

Akane looked passed Ranma to see that the sun was setting in the distance. She nodded and made her way towards her fiance.

"Hey Ryoga..." She stopped midway to Ranma when she spoke.

"Uh, Yeah Akane?"

"Thank you." Ranma watched as Akane turned to give Ryoga a small smile, and he couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy. He hadn't seen her give a genuine smile in weeks, what made Ryoga so special? What was she being so nice to him for?

They walked home in awkward silence, her on the sidewalk staring at her shoes and him walking on top of the fence. Ranma glanced over towards the girl he had become so worried about the past few weeks and noticed the bounce from earlier was now gone. Her shoulders were slouched and she was back to her now normal slow place.

"Look Akane..." He said while jumping from the fence to walk along side her.

"I didn't ask for Shampoo to show up, alright?"

"Don't you think I know that, Ranma?" She said while keeping her eyes to the grown.

"Than what are ya so upset for, huh?"

"I'm not upset."

"Yeah you are, Akane."

"No I'm not."

"You are."

Akane took in a deep breath.

"Listen Ranma, don't worry about it alright? I'm not upset. I just wanna go home and go to bed. I'm just...tired is all."

He thought of look she gave him when Shampoo was on top of him and couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Why couldn't she would just hit him over the head and call him a jerk? It sure would help him feel a little better. He just wanted things to go back to normal, he wasn't very fond of this new sad and submissive Akane.


End file.
